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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 October 2008
The equation of state of an ionised gas has been discussed from time to time by various writers*. It is of importance chiefly in astrophysical applications. The simplest form of the problem, and the only form considered in this note, is to find the pressure in a gas of given temperature in which the numbers of atoms per unit volume at the different possible stages of ionisation are supposed known. In describing the ionisation an electron is counted as “free” when its total energy is positive. If this problem can be solved we should have a good estimate of the relative importance of the various physical factors at work, without tackling the more difficult, though more natural, problem of finding the ionisation for given temperature and pressure.
* Eddington, A. s., Internal Constitution of the Stars, 1926, §§ 182–188;Google ScholarMonthly Notices Royal Attron. Soc., 88, p. 352 (1928);CrossRefGoogle ScholarFowler, R. H., Statistical Mechanics, 1929, Chapters 8, 13, 14 and 16, where farther references are also given.Google Scholar
* Eddington, op. cit., Equation (182·41).
† Ibid., Equation (183·1).
* Fowler, op. cit., Equations (53) and (97), with suitable limits of integration inserted.
* Eddington, op. cit., § 187, and Monthly Notices Roy. Astron. Soc., 88, p. 352 (1928).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
* See, for example, Wright, , Nature, 109, p. 810 (1922).CrossRefGoogle Scholar